On Social Work Day, Tuesday March 18 2025, I joined a panel at Monash University with A/Prof Susie Bawadie (Social Work Department) and Jacinta Woehl (who works at Seniors Rights) to discuss the theme for the day: “Strengthening Intergenerational Solidarity for Enduring Wellbeing”.
This is how I summarised my thoughts about how the theme should resonate with Social Work values.
- The power of history is too often neglected. It’s a constant puzzlement to me that I see the mistakes of the past being repeated in contemporary times. One of the best pieces of advice I can offer social workers is to regard themselves not as breakers of families but as brokers of a better future for families.
- I can’t stress enough the importance of doing everything they can to keep families together rather than condemning parents as worthless and dysfunctional. If it’s absolutely clear that a child is in a hazardous situation, get them out of harm’s way of course, but there should be a resolve that the day you take a child away from their family is the day you start planning for their reunion and strengthening.
- Children need hope, optimism and positivity. In CLAN’s work in Care Leavers records, we see so much written about children and parents that was judgmental, cruel, insulting and disrespectful. So much negativity. Be careful that you are not going to be judged in the years to come by the way you judged the people who needed your compassion and support. Hope is such a great four-letter word!
Social Work Day – “Strengthening Intergenerational Solidarity for Enduring Wellbeing”